


Photonegative

by thephilosophersapprentice



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: ...yeah, Ed and Alfons don't exactly have what one could term a completely healthy relationship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I had thoughts about this, Missing Scene, conqueror of shamballa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-25 20:11:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18170897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thephilosophersapprentice/pseuds/thephilosophersapprentice
Summary: “Then… why do you stay?” Noah said, leaning forward.Alfons shifted in his chair, laughing jauntily. “For the mystery, of course!” he said mock-boisterously. “There’s definitely a lot more to him than you see on the surface, that’s for sure.” He relaxed into his former attitude. “At least, that’s what I tell myself, sometimes. Other times… I think it’s because I care about him, even if there’s someone else there that means he never sees me, myself.”





	Photonegative

If Alfons could save this moment, he would—smiling and talking in a sun-drenched parlor—not necessarily for the happiness, but just because of how rare it was. One little island of peace in a world starving, desperate, and war-torn. “I’ve never really seen Ed take interest in a girl before,” he commented. “He… just doesn’t get close to people. Except for me, I suppose. Although…” He bit his lip. Noah leaned closer, curious.

“I don’t think it’s really _me_ he’s seeing,” Alfons confessed.

“What do you think he sees?” Noah asked.

“The ghost of someone else, maybe. Someone he was so close to that without them, he’s completely lost, like he’s missing half of his soul. You can see it, sometimes…” Alfons swallowed. “It’s so hard, living with a ghost.” Especially if he couldn’t tell if the ghost was Edward, himself, or some third person without whom Edward couldn’t survive.

“He’s like a faded photograph. Like maybe there was someone there once, but now they’re just haunting the sad remains of what they have left.” Alfons huffed out a sad laugh. “Listen to me. I sound like a reject Edgar Allen Poe.”

“Then… why do you stay?” Noah said, leaning forward.

Alfons shifted in his chair, laughing jauntily. “For the mystery, of course!” he said mock-boisterously. “There’s definitely a lot more to him than you see on the surface, that’s for sure.” He relaxed into his former attitude. “At least, that’s what I tell myself, sometimes. Other times… I think it’s because I care about him, even if there’s someone else there that means he never sees me, _myself_.”

“But when you think about neither?”

Alfons sighed. “I think I stay because, even though I’m a poor replacement, not really the person he lost… I can’t imagine anything sadder than Edward Elric, completely alone.”


End file.
